Jitin Prasada’s Brahmin Outreach 
Priyanka Gandhi Connects With UP Women 
Will Priyanka Use Brahmin Anger? 
Vikas Dubey Shot Dead
♦️Will Congress Use Vikas Dubey’s Encounter As One More Instance Of Anti-Brahmin Bias In Uttar Pradesh?
♦️The Congress used to be invincible in Uttar Pradesh till they lost power in 1989, never to return for the next 30 years, because of a simple combination; Brahmins-Dalits-Muslims ensured Congress would inevitably win UP!
♦️Then the Muslims turned to the Samajwadi Party!
♦️The Dalits turned to the Bahujan Samaj Party!
♦️The Brahmins drifted between the SP and BSP because the Congress’ entire organisation had been decimated by the Congress’ own Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao
♦️Remember “Tilak, Tarazu Aur Talwar/Inko Maaro Jootey Chaar “
♦️Narasimha Rao believed if UP remained a Congress bastion, Mrs Sonia Gandhi would be too formidable a force to control
♦️It suited Rao to run a coalition Govt to the detriment of the Congress Party
♦️The loss of UP has virtually destroyed the Congress so much so that even Rahul Gandhi lost Amethi, something that was unthinkable!
♦️Now in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress appears to be once again trying to woo the Brahmin community.
♦️Former Union Minister Jitin Prasada, who has often been projected as the party’s Brahmin face in the State, is touring U.P. to meet Brahmins who have lost their family members to murders or alleged custodial deaths in recent months.
♦️While the party and Mr. Prasada have not overtly projected his visits as being focused on Brahmins, the names of the victims reveal a definite strategy.
♦️Moreover, Mr. Prasada also attended a meeting of the Brahman Chetna Parishad, a Brahmin outfit, in Lucknow on November 22. ♦️The “oppression” and “neglect” [faced by the community] were discussed, Mr. Prasada tweeted.
♦️Prasada met the family of student union leader Aditya Narain Tiwari ‘Kabir’ who was shot dead in Basti as well as the father of Satya Prakash Shukla, who died in police custody recently in Amethi. “He is a broken man, whose son died in police custody in Amethi. He deserves some answers and justice,”
♦️Prasada also went to Mainpuri to meet the aggrieved family of Subash Pandey, whose daughter died under mysterious circumstances.
♦️Talking to the press in Uttar Pradesh Prasada said he had identified at least a dozen such families be would visiting across U.P. He, however, was reluctant to label his visits as being focused on the Brahmin community, though he did not distance himself from the perception.
“I am not saying it [is Brahmin outreach]. People are saying it. I am no one to stop them. I am going everywhere possible, where I can highlight the voice of people who are not being heard,” Mr. Prasada said. “I am going to people where there has been an incident of [custodial] death or murder. And we can call it a coincidence that most of them are Brahmins.”
♦️When asked if he was hinting that a particular community, the Brahmins, was being targeted under the Yogi Adityanath-led State government, Mr. Prasada said, “Certainly, the facts on the ground are disturbing”
♦️”I want to highlight the cause by going there specifically; to ensure they are going to be heard; that the Congress party will take up the cause of those people who want justice, at every forum, be it on the ground or in Vidhan Sabha or Lok Sabha. Wherever possible and whichever avenue, we will not let it go until these people are satisfied,”
♦️One of the families on Prasada’s list was Anand Swaroop Mishra, a petrol pump manager who was recently shot dead in Gorakhpur.
♦️Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met Mishra’s family on Sunday after the new Brahmin outreach by Congress and ordered an ex gratia compensation of ₹10 lakh to the family, while also directing the police to take harsh action against the culprits.
♦️Priyanka Gandhi has an opportunity here
♦️Jitin Prasada has put the Congress’ foot in the door
♦️Vikas Dubey’s encounter, may have opened it
♦️Will the Congress do it?
♦️Or will they be squeamish about using the encounter of a murdering, cold blooded killer as another example of Brahmin persecution?
♦️The Muslims (agreed Muslims are not a monolithic community) have just been waiting for the Congress to regain some of its old spirit
♦️The challenge will be the Dalit vote
♦️Is the Congress ready to make a comeback in UP?
♦️UP seems to be ready to resurrect the Congress
